PARIS.- For its one-year anniversary, NEO Enchères is delighted to offer at auction at Hôtel Drouot on March 26th the SCAL Direction and Design building, an iconic work by Jean Prouvé and Pierre Jeanneret (estimate: €200,000-€300,000). Built around 1939-1940, it is one of the oldest and rarest examples in France of a specific type of construction: one that is prefabricated, equipped, and furnished with the intention of being easily transported and assembled. This ambitious project, initiated in wartime, marked a pivotal milestone in the history of modern architecture.

Through it, the designers demonstrate the feasibility of having a building prefabricated at a factory to be easily assembled on-site. Constructed in 1940 on the SCAL premises to quickly, rapidly accommodate the factory’s engineers and workers, many of these prefab buildings have since demolished or converted into garden sheds. Those that remain today are considered the vestiges of an innovation that marked the history of architecture.

This two-level building, the first axial portico designed by Jean Prouvé, has been preserved by its owner, Claude Barbat (1933-2023). He purchased it in 1958 and brought it to his property in Issoire around 1962 or 1963. He lived in it until his death in 2023. For sixty years, Claude Barbat kept the building in the same condition – including the original paint –, only bringing reversible changes to it with preserving its earliest structure.

Jean Prouvé and Pierre Jeanneret collaborated to design this building where the major themes of contemporary 20th-century architecture converge. More than 80 years after it was created, it is now coming to the market for the first time, in a remarkable condition. Currently clad in siding, the Direction and Design building is a one-of-a-kind relic worthy of being displayed in a great international museum, once released from its cocoon.

THE SCAL PROJECT IN ISSOIRE (1939-1940)

The SCAL factory project was launched on November 11, 1939 by the Armaments Minister Raoul Dautry and by the principal manufacturers of aluminum alloys at the time. It was part of the intense rearming effort in France during the first months of the war. Its urgency meant that considerable means were devoted to it. The minister designated the architects Auguste and Gustave Perret to design the reinforced concrete structures of the factory.

A second program emerged a few weeks later: to design temporary buildings that could accommodate a portion of the personnel who would be building the factory in Issoire. The buildings would have to be built within the shortest time possible: prefabricated and delivered ready-to-assemble, fully equipped and furnished. On December 12, 1939, the study for the buildings was entrusted to Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier, and the Jean Prouvé workshops.

Pierre Jeanneret designed the architectural plans by himself, applying the construction systems developed by Jean Prouvé. Charlotte Perriand designed the furnishings before leaving for Japan on June 14, 1940. In addition to contributing the decisive concept for the metal frame, which he had patented in 1939 and 1940, Jean Prouvé designed the prefabricated parts of the buildings. He also supervised the manufacture of the metal components at his factory in Nancy.

The Direction and Design building, assembled in Issoire as early as March of 1940, was the first of the series to be built. Other buildings were constructed before the defeat of June 1941, and a second batch of buildings were assembled between February and June of 1941.

A CONSTRUCTIVE COLLABORATION BETWEEN JEAN PROUVÉ AND PIERRE JEANNERET

Pierre Jeanneret determined the definitive architectural characteristics of the Direction and Design building on December 13, 1939. They were directly derived from the “flying school” project – of transportable classroom buildings – executed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.

The building features a two-level square floor plan measuring 8 meters (26 ft) on each side. The ground floor includes an entryway, a washroom, a coal reserve, and a vast design studio. The mezzanine was designed to accommodate the director’s office and typists’ room. The second half of the ceiling rises the full height of the building over the design studio. The typists’ room overlooks the spacious studio area like a tribune.

Jean Prouvé’s prefabricated construction system supports the building structure. The entire building is designed to facilitate transport and quick “dry” assembly, requiring minimal labor, tools, and means of lifting.

The building’s lynchpin is a central upturned V-shaped portico in 4.82 m-high (15.8 ft-high) steel tubes. Two ridge beams affixed to the portico support the sheet metal roofing. The partially load-bearing outer facades repose on the edge beams of the ground floor slab. They are stiffened by metal profiles. The interior walls are secured by metal joint covers. The mezzanine sits on a secondary structure supported by the portal and posts. The main elements of the frame, as well as the staircase, are made of folded and welded steel sheets. The facades, inner walls, and floors are made of wood-paneled “sandwich” panels with interior insulation.

A streamlined aesthetic emanates from the combination of metal frames and wood, while the visible portal liberates and structures the space. The building demonstrates a perfect harmony between construction method and architectural expression.

THE EARLIEST INTERIOR PORTICO BUILDING BY JEAN PROUVÉ

Based on this first experience, Jean Prouvé went on to develop prefab homes that could be produced on an industrial scale, including his famous Maison Tropicale (1949). The Direction and Design building is the only piece of this series to feature a second level.

The building is an important milestone in the research into “industrializable minimal housing.” Like other contributors to the Modern Movement, Jean Prouvé and Pierre Jeanneret sought to combat the housing crisis that was having a drastic impact on the working classes by proposing prefabricated housing in lightweight materials.